Genotype

The term genotype was introduced in the developing field of genetics following the rediscovery and further application of Gregor Mendel's work during the early 1900s. The genotype is the genetic constitution or makeup of an individual. It can be used to refer to the overall assemblage of genes that an individual possesses at all genetic loci, the positions occupied by genes on a chromosome, or more typically, in the specific sense to refer to the genetic constitution at a precise genetic locus in an individual. In the second usage, we refer to the alleles, the alternate forms of a gene, which are present at a specific locus on each member of the chromosome pair on which the gene is located. The introduction of new genetic ...